Katara's eyes fluttered open slowly, unwillingly. A dull ache throbbed in her chest. It felt as though her heart had been ripped out, leaving only an empty hole. Memories came flooding back: the Kyoshi warriors, fighting beside her; Azula, struck down by her own lightning; the white battlefield spinning as she fell…
"Haven't you heard? Zuko's dead. The Dai Li killed him."
No, Katara told herself firmly, shutting Azula's mocking laughter out of her thoughts. I can't believe that. I won't believe it!
She was thankfully distracted by the sound of light snoring. Master Pakku was in a chair beside her, his bald head drooping in his sleep. Puzzled, Katara groggily took in her surroundings. The injured figures of Water Tribe men were laid out on cots beside her, as well as the Kyoshi warriors Sayori and Taiko. Thankfully, the two girls were merely sleeping; it seemed they had broken limbs that were in the process of mending. I'm in the healing house, she realized. But… why? What happened to me?
"Katara, you're awake!" Gran-Gran's face came into view as she all but knocked Master Pakku out of the way. The old man grunted in annoyance as he came to his senses. "We've been so worried!"
"Gran-Gran. What am I doing here?"
"You passed out on the battlefield," Pakku told her, wedging in beside Gran-Gran so that he could see his star pupil, "after you and Iroh fought Azula. How do you feel?"
"My chest hurts," Katara admitted. She sat up a little, and Gran-Gran fluffed a pillow behind her.
"We thought you might have been injured, but Yugoda said it wasn't that. She'd seen this once before in the Northern Tribe, when one of the - well anyway, you're all right, and that's all that matters," she finished quickly.
Katara wondered what Gran-Gran had been about to say. It seemed suspicious that she wouldn't talk about whatever it was in front of Pakku. However, the snarky old waterbender chose that moment to go. "I promised Katara's friends I would let them know when she woke up. I'll be back soon."
"You didn't have to stay," Kana mumbled, surprising Katara. "I'm her grandmother. I could have taken care of her without your help."
Amazingly, Master Pakku didn't come back with a riposte or even a scowl. Instead, he simply sighed. "I know that," he murmured. "But she's family to me, too." He gave Katara a sad smile, then left.
"You shouldn't be so mean to him," Katara scolded.
"This is none of your business, Katara," her grandmother frowned.
"I don't know what he did to you in the past, but I do know that he's trying to change," she pressed. "You should give him a chance."
"Enough. We will not discuss this further," Kana said with finality.
Seeing that her grandmother wasn't ready to make nice with Master Pakku, Katara sighed. "Then tell me what were you about to say before, Gran-Gran. About Yugoda."
The old woman lowered her head. "She said that your problem was a block in your chi."
Katara's blue eyes widened in alarm. "But - my bending -"
"Your bending is fine. It's not that. It's…"
The waterbender narrowed her eyes. "What? Tell me."
Gran-Gran exhaled heavily. "Yugoda did say that she'd seem something like this once before. It was a girl in the Northern Tribe who had fallen in love with a young warrior. They were engaged, but… when he died of a fever, the girl lost her will to live. She passed out by his bedside. Despite Yugoda's care, she never woke up."
Katara suddenly realized the gravity of what had occurred. She had taken Azula's words about Zuko being dead to heart… literally. And the thought of losing him had been more than she could bear. So that's why my chest hurts so much, she thought, wincing as the dull ache pulsed against her ribs. But I have to believe he's all right. I won't give up on him.
"Katara, I'm only asking out of concern for you," the old woman prefaced warily. "Did this happen to you because of the Avatar? When he first came here and I wanted him to leave the village, you were very quick to defend him."
"It's not like that," Katara explained. "Aang is just a friend. He has nothing to do with this."
"Then what upset you so much? Please, Katara. You can tell me."
"You say that now," she murmured, rolling her head so she could look away. "You wouldn't if you knew."
Katara knew she couldn't tell Gran-Gran about Zuko. Her grandmother could only remember him as the arrogant prince that would have attacked their village. Her friends wouldn't understand, either. But as soon as she got well, she knew she had to leave them.
ooo LL ooo
"This is it."
"Hmm?" Those three words spoken by Jee brought Zuko out of his daze, and he suddenly became aware of his surroundings again. He didn't know why, but for some reason he had thought of Katara, and there was a dull ache in his chest. He rubbed the area just above his heart anxiously. "Sorry, what?"
Jee mistook Zuko's stupor for nervousness, and clapped a supportive hand on his shoulder. "This is it," he repeated quietly, "moment of truth. Are you ready?"
Zuko nodded, and tried to shake off the strange feeling in his chest. Every day that passed without word of Azula or the Fire Navy's movements prolonged his concern for Katara and Uncle Iroh. He had ordered the Dai Li to inform him via messenger hawk if word came of how the battle was going at the South Pole, but no hawk had come, even since leaving Bumi two days before.
There will be news when we get back to Ba Sing Se, he assured himself, there has to be. Until then, he could only wait, and hope.
The two of them, led by Jeong Jeong, had traveled north to a sanctuary huddled in the mountains. Once there, they climbed the winding stone stair that led to the entrance. Now they stood before the thick wooden doors, and Zuko realized with a gulp that his mother was on the other side of them. His search was over. His throat felt suddenly dry and itchy, and every nerve in his body was tense.
"Before we enter, let me make one thing perfectly plain," Master Jeong Jeong explained in his gruff voice. "King Bumi may have made you an initiate, Prince Zuko, but one there is one rule of the Lotus Sanctuary that neither of you are to violate: whatever you see and hear within this place must remain secret. Even the location of this sanctuary is never to be spoken of again. You must both agree to these terms."
Zuko gave his word instantly never to reveal the secrets of the Lotus Sanctuary, followed by a cautious-faced Jee, who for some reason looked nearly as nervous as Zuko. Jeong Jeong gave a quick nod of assent, then knocked, and an elderly woman's careworn face appeared behind an opening in the door.
"Who knocks at the guarded gate?" she asked.
"One who has eaten of the fruit and tasted its mysteries," Jeong Jeong replied. Zuko recognized those words; they were the same ones Uncle had used at the Misty Palms Oasis nearly a year before.
The doors opened then, and Zuko gasped. Behind them opened up a magnificent garden. Fire-lilies, snowdrops, bluebells, golden roses, and countless other blooms spilled over vases and climbed up the sanctuary walls, filling the air with their heady fragrance.
The old woman led the three firebenders along a stone path into the heart of the garden, where there was a fountain shaped like a giant lotus flower. Around the fountain, a small group of children dressed in shades of yellow and orange were laughing and chasing one another around. A few of them were engaged in some sort of game. Zuko watched for a moment and paused as he realized there was something… well, different about the game, and about them. They were playing leap-badgerfrog, but ordinary children didn't jump that high over one another's shoulders. And then he saw it, though he scarcely believed it. A little boy crouched down as a girl of no more than four was about to jump over him, but she never touched his shoulders as she leapt. The girl sailed at least two feet over the boy's head, then landed lightly in front of him with a girlish giggle.
"Jee, did you see that?" Zuko marveled.
The middle-aged firebender nodded in bewilderment. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that little girl was just… airbending!"
"Then we saw the same thing. But that's impossible. Isn't it?"
Jeong Jeong humphed loudly. "Do you not trust your own eyes? Look well at these children, for in their faces, you see the future of the Air Nomad society."
The banished prince's jaw hung slack. "These children are all airbenders?"
The old woman heard the question. "Not all of them. We've only seen bending from four of them so far, but some of them are still quite young, and their bending may show itself in time."
"How can this be?" Jee wondered aloud. "I thought the Air Temples were wiped out a hundred years ago."
"The temples, yes, but not all of the people who once lived in them," Jeong Jeong replied. "A few survived. The children you see are the great-grandchildren of those survivors."
So the Avatar isn't the last airbender after all. It was an earth-shattering thought. If the war ended soon, the Water Tribes and Air Nomads could rebuild their cultures. The balance of the world could be restored. Yet as tremendous as this discovery was to Zuko, it could not distract him from the reason he had come.
"Can you take us to Lady Ursa now?" he asked, not realizing how impatient he sounded.
The elderly woman turned. "The Lady Lotus is retiring in her room. Wait here." Without another word, she disappeared inside the cloisters beyond the garden.
"I have business of my own to attend to," Jeong Jeong said then, "I will rejoin you later."
As the white-haired firebender walked away, Zuko realized that he was giving him space. He thought of asking Jee to go with Jeong Jeong, but the truth was, having him there was reassuring. His quiet, unassuming presence was becoming an anchor in Zuko's turbulent life. Jee was something Zuko had never truly had before, outside of his Uncle Iroh and those fleeting moments with Katara - a true friend.
"Do you want me to go, too?" Jee asked with concern, as if he could hear Zuko's thoughts.
Zuko smiled softly. "Not just yet. I'd like to introduce you to my mother, if that's all right. I think she'd want to meet a friend of the family."
Jee's shoulders swelled with pride. "Thank you," he said genuinely. "I'm honored."
"No more than I am," Zuko reminded him. "I was pretty awful before. You didn't have to forgive me."
"Nonsense. You saved the helmsman's life, even though your honor was on the line," Jee pointed out.
"We saved his life." Zuko remembered the look of respect that had crossed Jee's face that stormy night on the sea. The same look was there now. The corners of his eyes wrinkled slightly as he grinned.
Soft footsteps interrupted their conversation, and both firebenders looked up. Years had passed since she vanished from the royal court, but time had done nothing to mar Lady Ursa's beauty or graceful demeanor. If anything, it had enhanced it. She wore her dark hair loose and flowing. Her gown was a pale lavender color with white piping, and a white lotus flower was tucked into the sash at her waist. Jee bowed low, humbled in the presence of his former queen.
She and Zuko, however, stood frozen in time. They stared at one another, then somehow they were running, rushing into the other's embrace. Tears flowed freely down the faces of mother and son as they held one another after nearly ten long years apart.
"Mom!" he gulped, his throat catching with emotion.
"Zuko!" After a long moment she drew back so she could examine the face of her grown-up son. Her fingers traced the edge of his tear-soaked scar, and her brow furrowed. "Oh, my love. What happened?"
A pang of shame plunged through Zuko's chest. "It was a long time ago. It doesn't matter now."
"It matters to me. Everything about you matters to me," Ursa smiled, cupping her son's face with love. "I've prayed so many times that I would see you again. There's so much I need to tell you."
"There are things I need to tell you, too. But first, I want to introduce someone. A friend who helped me get here." He nodded to Jee, who came forward slowly, as if he had suddenly turned shy. "Mom, this is Lieutenant Jee. He's an émigré from the Fire Nation, like you and me. Jee, this is my mom, Lady Ursa."
"It's an honor, my Lady," the former Fire Navy officer said, bowing his head in reverence. As he rose, there was a distinct flush to his cheeks, and his ears looked a bit pink as well.
"Please, call me Ursa," she replied kindly. "I am no longer Lady of the Fire Nation or wife to the Fire Lord, so titles are unnecessary, and to be honest, a bit awkward."
"Forgive me. I didn't know." He took her soft, long fingers in his rough palm and bent to sweep an apologetic kiss along the back of her hand. "Ursa, then."
Zuko watched as his mother blushed slightly. She withdrew her hand, and Jee hastily excused himself, all but sprinting off into the garden.